Review of the Year 2015: March

Harrogate’s rail line was named as a top priority for electrification.

The York-Harrogate-Leeds line was named among 12 top priority routes in the north of England which should be electrified to grow the region’s economy in a report to the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.

It emerged the Tour de France brought a “phenomenal” £19.2m economic boost to the Harrogate district.A new Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) report revealed a total of 310,000 people lined the route of the Tour de France as it passed through the district over two days in July 2014.

“We knew the Tour was going to be huge,” said Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones. “But it was bigger and better than we could have hoped for.”